Casualties of WAR ....

I am not certain as to the statistics of seminarians entering various religious/formation houses in any part of the world. The same can also be said of those leaving and the reason(s) behind them i.e. is it because the absence of a vocation or perhaps some other reason(s). I do not know for sure as well what is the measurement yardstick being used or to which it is measured against. Of course there are proper documents or encyclicals in relation to the formation of individuals for the priesthood/ or religious but these are only general guidelines for references purposes as at the end of the day, final decisions usually rest on rectors of individual formation houses and there are no concrete rules or perhaps consulters on the matter at hand. In some ways it is very hierarchical or rather undemocratic in the sense not much space is given for one to perhaps defend one-self from the various allegations but then the church we must know and accept is as such, hierarchical in its nature. Nevertheless, there must be a certain or high degree of trust in God and whatever action or consequences should be viewed in that light.

This issue came into mind as not too long ago I was informed that another seminarian (from different year/intake) has left the formation house yet nobody actually knows the reason behind it. I can't help but imagine as to the reason for his decision and ponder whether was there any attempt by the formatters to actually reason with the individual and try to change his mind or there was none made and he was just left - to make his own decision and leave without any effort to nature the vocation. But whatever it is, this is not the first time but there has been many in the past and most of never know as to the reason(s) behind the leaving or whether there were any positive steps to actually avert this unpleasant situation.

Vocation to the priesthood/ religious life is actually very precious and there must be efforts to ensure that each vocation is properly nurtured and cared for by the formatters. There should also not be any formatters who think or wish to play 'God' in the sense of being the authority to simply terminate a person's vocation due to his biasness or personal dissatisfaction over a particular person. Extreme care should be given before a decision is made to terminate the vocation formation process of a seminarian especially with a backdrop of the number of seminarian / priest.

Whatever the circumstances, we just need to continue to place our trust in God and just allow Him to do what He feels is best for His church and people eventhough we may  not agree.